Review of A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River #4) by Robyn Carr
A Virgin River Christmas is the fourth book in the series Virgin River.
A year after losing her husband, Marcie Sullivan determines that this Christmas, she's going to find the man who saved his life on the battlefield and gave her three more years to love him. Ian Buchanan dragged Bobby onto military transport in Iraq, but disappeared not long after reaching stateside. Since then, he hasn't been responding to her letters.
Marcie tracks Ian to the tiny town of Virgin River and finds him roughing it in a one-room cabin. He tries to scare her off, but she won't go, determined to say her piece and give him some of the healing she thinks he needs. As she pushes closer, she discovers a sweet, warm man under a rough and gruff exterior.
Ian doesn't know what to make of her, or her determination to get close to him. She wants him to face things and talk about things he'd rather avoid. But he knows what she makes him feel.
This was a cute book. It wasn't as deep or layered as I felt previous books were, but I enjoyed it.
This story takes place during the Christmas season contained in Whispering Rock. Jack and Mel make appearances, as do Preacher, Paige, Mike, and Brie along with other members of the community, though the book doesn't take place in town, rather in outlying areas. But they go to town regularly and talk to the locals. I found the story to be a sweet one, also somewhat bittersweet at times. My one disappointment was that I had completely guessed the ending by a third of the way through, and it was exactly what happened. In reading romance, you know there will always be a happily ever after ending, but the reader shouldn't be able to guess how it will pan out. But I did.
I liked both Marie and Ian. They were both tough, resilient people who dealt with things in their own ways. At the beginning, it seemed like Marcie was skirting on the edge of a big emotional breakdown, but toward the middle of the book, it seemed the other way around—Ian was close to losing it while Marcie was as strong as ever. I liked her spunk and sass, and I liked his gentleness and inner vulnerability.
As always with Robyn Carr, descriptions are sparse and not nearly as vivid as I'd like. However, her propensity for only basic description worked to her advantage in the one-room cabin in the woods, because not much was needed. The description of the Christmas tree in Virgin River was lovely, and I always love seeing the town through a new set of eyes.
Dialog was great—the couple was playful at times, and serious at others. Robyn Carr chose her words well and gave descriptive and meaningful dialog that was easy to read. Not much cheese.
How predictable the ending was nearly made my rating drop more, but how much I enjoyed the story and characters kept it here.
Comments
Post a Comment